The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

A Yizkor Prayer for those who were abused as children

The Awareness Center wants to thank Rabbi Robert Saxand the Rabbinical Assemblyfor creating a very special Yizkor prayer for including this meditation for survivors of abusive parents. To the best of our knowledge this is the first prayer of it's kind to make its way into a prayer book for the High Holidays.

Indeed, You know me better than I know myself,
so I turn to You before I
rise for Kaddish.

My emotions swirlas I say this prayer. The
parent I remember was
not kind to me. His/her
death left me with a legacy of unhealed wounds,
of anger and of dismay
that a parent could hurt a
child as I was hurt.

I do not want to pretend to love, or to grief
that I do not feel, but I do
want to do what is right
as a Jew and as a child.

Help me, O God,to subdue my bitter
emotions that do me no
good, and to find that
place in myself where
happier memories may
lie hidden, and where
grief for all that could
have been, all that should
have been, may be
calmed by forgiveness,
or at least soothed by the
passage of time.

I pray that You,who raise up slaves to
freedom, will liberate me
from the oppression of
my hurt and anger, and
that You will lead me
from this desert to Your
holy place.

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Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!